An Anarchist's Dream

I arrived in Denver on the slightly overcast Sunday morning before the start of the “most historic political convention in the history of the United States.” It is being referred to in that way by almost everyone I meet. I began my tour by accidentally running into the Recreate 68 organization’s rally. It was a rally against the entire government of the United States. An anarchist’s dream. There was railing, ranting, copious use of the word “fuck” – as in “fuck the government.” Curiously, though, no “fuck the po-lice.” The passion with which the speakers spoke and the anti-establishment audience responded was palpable. These people, some young, some old, some dreadlocked, most tatted, struck me as an interesting group. They were at once fierce (as in Ward Churchill’s declaration that the U.S. cannot defeat imperialism, until it first reconciles itself to repairing the damage of its own) and timid, as evidenced by the many audience members wearing bandanas to conceal their identities. They spoke the language of an anti-establishment movement, all the while exhibiting the trappings of the establishment. Many of the audience hawked their wares, kerchiefs, posters, signs, to other audience members -- a most embarrassing display of capitalism in what was, at least in part, an anti-capitalist rally.

Rosa Clemente, Vice-Presidential candidate for the Green Party spoke passionately about injustice in not only the United States, but around the world. Most pointedly she talked about the injustice of the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico not having the right to vote in presidential elections. However, it was her introduction of the revolutionary hip hop duo dead prez that really excited the crowd. And, indeed, they were crowd pleasers. They performed several songs before they ended with their most mainstream song, “Hip Hop.” It is one of my favorite songs too. It manages to peel away surface information to reveal some truths, while reinforcing the revolutionary zeal of the crowd. It was exciting for me to see and hear them. As a huge fan of conscious hip hop, it’s always a thing of beauty to hear the music elevated to something more than the main stream, stereotypical tropes of big booty women and hypermasculine bucks. In this setting though, I wasn’t really sure that the crowd truly understood the nature of revolution,

“You would rather have a Lexus, some justice, a dream or some substance?
A Beemer, a necklace or freedom?”

This lyric speaks to the superficiality of many U.S. citizens. Other lyrics include;

"Who shot Biggie Smalls?
If we don’t get them, they gon’ get us all
I’m down for runnin’ up on them crackers in they city hall”

I’m all for a good conspiracy theory and here we have one set to a really great beat. However, witnessing the audience of, mostly, Anglo people grooving to that last line was a little disturbing to me.

What I most recall is the same discussion that I have with students in each of my classes every semester. Each semester there is always one or two people who insist on the supremacy of individuality. It is, after all, the biggest myth of United States culture. Closely followed by the idea that women are “the weaker sex.” I recalled those inevitable discussions in which a few students dare to speak up and claim their individuality, whereupon I begin a series of queries regarding their habits, goals, dress, preferences, etc. When they begin to answer in group patterns, I ask them to address the issue of individuality again. I am not stating that we do not, at times, assert our individuality, but I am a sociologist. We observe the “individual’s” behavior within the groups to which they belong. The individuals that I observed at the rally on Sunday, were not as individual as they would like to think. They do, however, deviate significantly from the norm and it is that, and the response to it, that I observed on Sunday.

And speaking of deviance and social control. . . I am fairly certain that I had no idea that they made that many police and police paraphernalia. I’m not too sure who “They” is, but I hypothesize that “They” are responsible for the almost comically ridiculous number of enforcement around the Denver Convention Center, Pepsi Center and Invesco Field. It is one thing to see hundreds of police marching in a line in full riot gear in pictures from the 60’s, or on television. It is quite another to have them run past you in rhythmic time, closely followed by similarly dressed enforcement on horseback. Two young men, b-boys in fact, while watching the impending spectacle , started heckling the protestors when they made some small movement to comply with the second directive. They started besmirching the bravery of the marchers, calling them “pussies.” The next insult started to be “chicken shit” but it was cut off by the two of them yelping and jumping out of the way of the police on horseback. Chicken shit indeed.